Aiming to meet the Wilmington area’s growing demand for mental health services led Sarah Coates to open a location of her counseling practice here.

One-Eighty Counseling opened recently at 1209 Culbreth Drive, Suite 100, in Wilmington near Mayfaire. Currently, the practice has eight counselors, said founder and president Sarah Coates.

"We’ve been up in the Triangle area for 16 years,” she said. “The demand there is big and I believe it’s big in Wilmington as well.”

The idea to open the practice’s overall seventh location in the Port City came when Coates’ director of operations expressed interest in moving to the coast, and Coates said she saw Wilmington as a good place to expand.

Coates is a licensed clinical mental health counselor, a nationally certified counselor and a distance credentialed counselor. She has a bachelor’s degree in communication and media studies from Methodist University and a master’s degree in counseling from Campbell University.

The practice offers in-person and telehealth visits and accepts most major commercial insurance carriers, Coates said. The local office has providers who can help treat children and teens, couples, families and individuals with conditions that include substance use, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and stress by itself. Contact information is available online.

“We have a saying, ‘It’s OK to not be OK,’” Coates said. “And many people struggle. People have mental health struggles but a lot of things that we talk with clients about are everyday struggles.”